The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Data processing networks may include a variety of devices with a variety of capabilities. The devices may be of different models, obtained from different manufacturers, and used by customers in different ways. Example devices include routers, switches, general purpose computers, server computers, printers, scanners, fax machines, Voice over IP (“VoIP”) phones, mobile devices such as smart phones, and other devices connected to the network. At any given time, customers generally do not use all of the capabilities of all of their devices.
The devices may host or run different software, protocols, or other functional units. The devices may be configured to implement particular protocols, technologies or techniques in many different ways. A particular combination of one or more devices, software, configuration, technologies, protocols, functional units, or services may be associated with a particular name or marketing identifier of the vendor that supplied one or more of the units.
In order to manage, maintain, operate, service, or troubleshoot devices, for auditing purposes, or to analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of solutions, the vendors of network gear, customers and support service providers may want to know whether a given device is part of a hardware-based, software-based, and/or service-based solution that addresses a particular customer need. Customers and support service providers often assume that the devices are part of a hardware-based and/or software-based solution merely because the devices have manufacturer names and model numbers that are expected to be part of the solution. This assumption is inaccurate when devices that are typically part of a solution are not actually operating as part of the solution. An incorrect assumption may require extensive investigation of the configuration of the customer's devices, or may complicate the process of providing service or support to the customer or the devices.